Chapter 123 Desert Search
Unlike the previous time when Zhao Xiping saw a group of wild camels drinking water by the river, this time a group of people were walking blindly in the desert, judging whether there were any wild camels passing by recently based on hoof prints, camel feces, and traces of hay being eaten in the desert.
Sui Yu watched their movements carefully. These people came to the desert at least once a year, and the walking experience they accumulated through years of exploration was exactly what she lacked.
"Have you ever missed out?" she asked Lao Wan.
"Of course. Food and water will eventually run out, and there will also be times when we're unlucky enough to run into a pack of wolves. Wolves can shake off wolves, but food and water can't. Before that happens, we have to leave the desert, either returning empty-handed or reentering with food and water." Lao Wan patted the sand off his hands and said, "Don't think we make money selling camels, it's actually very hard work."
Sui Yu nodded and said, "When it comes to money, nothing is easy. I run a food store now, and I'm busy every day. I go out early and come back late. I go out before dawn and come back after dark."
"Cooking food is hard work." Lao Wan agreed.
"Which street is the food store on? What food do they sell?" someone else asked.
"In Minxiang, the Minxiang where merchants and travelers gather, do you know it?" Sui Yu asked.
"I know, of course I don't know. We harnessed the camels and took them back to tame them. Most of them were sold to caravans." A young man spoke up. He drove the camel closer, looked at Sui Yu and said with a smile: "What kind of food do you make, little sister-in-law? We'll go and take care of your business someday."
Zhao Xiping drove his camel between the two men. He frowned and looked over and said, "We sell soup noodles, flatbread, and steamed buns."
Lao Wan narrowed his eyes and inquired, "I seem to have heard of this food store. The woman in the store is married to a captain in the army? Is that you guys?"
Zhao Xiping nodded, "That's me."
The others looked over when they heard the sound. They exchanged glances, and their previous contemptuous attitude disappeared. They no longer looked at Sui Yu with sneaky eyes.
"A true man never reveals his true identity." Lao Wan smiled and bowed. He looked at Sui Yu and bowed to her again. She was a smart and capable person who was still doing business even though she was the wife of a thousand households.
Sui Yu glanced at Zhao Xiping, and when the two of them fell behind, she said, "When I open the shop, can you sit by and watch over it?"
"He was just provoking me." Zhao Xiping was a little angry.
"Okay, I'll stay away from them." Sui Yu didn't notice. She touched her face and muttered, "My face is wrinkled by the wind and sand. What's so good about it?"
Zhao Xiping glanced at her and wondered where the wrinkles were. He couldn't see them, anyway.
It was already afternoon when we entered the desert. We stopped and started, and it felt like we hadn't walked far when it got dark. However, the camel drivers didn't stop just because it got dark. They sat on the camels' backs, ate some dry food, and continued walking in the direction they had decided.
It was not until the bright moon rose overhead and the wind started to blow in the desert that the group began to look for a place to rest.
"It's been dry this year, and with the start of spring, there's going to be another sandstorm in the desert." Lao Wan walked over to the back of a dune and sat down, spreading some grass as he said, "If we can't harness a camel this time, we won't have another chance this year."
Sui Yu took out her water bag and drank some water. She looked at the desert under the moonlight and asked, "Are there any camels in the desert on the other side of the Gobi Desert?"
"Yes, most people there use camels for transportation." Zhao Xiping spread out the hay and asked her to come and sleep over. He slept on the outside to block her way.
Sui Yu leaned over to whisper a number in his ear and asked, "Is this money enough to buy seven or eight acres of wasteland? There are so many houses in Minxiang that I might need to buy four large mansions to build an inn. Not to mention whether I have enough money, they may not be willing to sell it to me."
Sui Yu had never seen a tall building since arriving in this dynasty. Even at the post stations, only the lookout towers had stairs. Furthermore, Dunhuang had few trees of sufficient quality to support her. If she were to build an inn, she couldn't go too high; she had to build it large to accommodate as many people and camels as possible. So she chose a location in the uninhabited wilderness, where land was cheap and the land was vast. She bought seven or eight acres of land, and she could build whatever she wanted.
"I'll ask you when I get back." Zhao Xiping pulled up the wolfskin and covered himself with it, saying, "Go to sleep. Aren't you tired?"
At home, she was completely absorbed in her shop business. She'd been traveling for nearly a month, still worrying about the lives of others. Without even taking a break, she'd headed back into the desert to harness camels. Her body was busy, her mind still pondering the idea of building an inn... Zhao Xiping breathed a sigh of relief. He wasn't much older than Sui Yu, so why didn't he have her same drive? Oh, and before that, she'd been thinking about crossing the desert to Dayuezhi to seek wealth. The idea really came to her head.
Grains of sand fell on the wolfskin, like drops of water hitting the body. Disturbed by the sound, no one could sleep well, nor did they dare to sleep well. They had to get up almost every hour to shake off the sand on the wolfskin and observe the wind direction. If the wind direction changed, everyone had to move to avoid being buried by the yellow sand.
When it got light, the wind weakened. Lao Wan and his friends quickly packed up their things and split into six groups to push away the yellow sand and search for the camel's tracks.
Sui Yu pulled Zhao Xiping away, and the couple searched in the fine yellow sand. The wind blew last night, and any traces on the ground were blown away and buried.
After searching for half an hour, the group drifted further and further away in their own directions. Sui Yu sat on the yellow sand, looking at the large pit he had dug. At the bottom of the pit was a small, dead-looking grass. Only when he twisted and broke it did he notice sap oozing out, concluding it was still alive. Perhaps it was simply that untidy.
Smelling the grass juice, two camels came running over. Sui Yu pinched the small-leaf grass in half and divided it equally between his two camels.
She patted her butt and stood up, sighing blankly: "When will I find this?"
"You can't hold on? You still want to cross the desert and the plateau to make a fortune in Dayuezhi?" Zhao Xiping said sarcastically, fearing that she was still thinking about it, so he tried to find a chance to dispel that unreliable idea.
Sui Yu suddenly regained her strength. She glanced at the man and said stubbornly, "Who said I can't hold on? I still have the strength. I don't need you to look for me anymore. Just watch."
Zhao Xiping really just crossed his arms and watched her as she dug and rolled in the yellow sand with her butt sticking out. He watched from a distance of two or three steps, covering his mouth and nose, his gaze sweeping over her as if it were real.
Sui Yu was so angry that he grabbed a handful of sand and threw it over.
Zhao Xiping quickly stepped back, looked at the sand that fell on the ground, and raised his eyebrows to tease her.
Sui Yu choked and caught a glimpse of the bow hanging on the camel's hump. She ran over in two steps, grabbed the bow arm and chased the bastard.
"Don't run."
Zhao Xiping continued walking and said happily, "You want to hit me and not let me run? Are you stupid or am I stupid?"
The couple was chasing each other in the soft desert. People nearby heard the noise and looked over, feeling very upset. What the hell had they done? They were all here to harness camels, and they were suffering, while the other two were laughing.
Zhao Xiping climbed up a sand dune, and Sui Yu followed closely behind. She leaned on her bow arm, panting, and said, "I don't want to play anymore. I'm so tired."
Looking down from a high point, the smooth curve makes one want to slide down. Zhao Xiping looked up. To the west was the desert, to the north were snow-capped mountains, and to the south was the endless Gobi Desert. He turned sideways to look east and said, "Let's go back. If you want to raise camels, just buy them."
Sui Yu knew he was thinking of her. If he was afraid of hardship and fatigue, he wouldn't have come to the desert alone to catch camels two years ago. She shook her head and said, "No, leaving now would be a big disappointment. Don't want to offend Lao Wan and the others. They rely on camel catching to make a living."
Putting herself in his shoes, if Zhao Xiaomi quit because she was tired while setting up a stall to do business, even if she could understand, she would subconsciously stay away from such a person. Who likes to deal with such a person who agrees to do something straightforwardly but runs away when there is trouble?
"Let's keep looking, we will find it eventually." Sui Yu bent down and sat down, and with a kick of her feet, she slid down the sand dune quickly.
"Are you stupid? Your pants are worn out." Zhao Xiping shouted loudly.
Sui Yu didn't hear anything. The wind whistled past her ears. Her body fell into the air. When she reached a smooth place, she collapsed on the yellow sand and enjoyed the thrill of sliding from a height.
"Are your pants torn?" Zhao Xiping was still worried about this.
Sui Yu touched her butt with her backhand and put her hand into the sand. She felt a hard round lump. She pulled it out and saw that it was camel dung. It was already dry and it looked like it had been there for some time.
"I found camel dung!" She jumped up and shouted, "Lao Wan, I found camel dung. It's dry. A herd of camels must have passed by five or six days ago."
The person who heard the sound came running over, and Zhao Xiping also ran down from the sand dune. He almost fell down, but when he reached the bottom, he couldn't stop and ran another two meters before he stopped.
Sui Yu pinched the camel dung as if it were a black pearl and showed it off to him, with a smug look on her face.
A smile appeared on his face. Zhao Xiping ran over and bent down to look at her pants. Fortunately, they were not worn out.
"Fools are lucky." He patted her.
"Don't touch me, be careful of the consequences." Sui Yu warned him.
Someone nearby arrived, and Sui Yu handed them the camel dung, saying, "Look, has it been there five or six days? I found it here, on the windward slope of the sand dune. A camel must have defecated here five or six days ago, and then the wind blew, and the sand buried the dung. The wind picked up last night, and the sand blew away, revealing this pile of camel dung."
"You know a lot." Lao Wan came over, looked at the camel dung, and dug it up along the direction Sui Yu pointed. There was a whole pile of camel dung underneath, which was not blown here by the wind and sand.
"Sand retains moisture. Camel dung dries slower when buried in the sand than when exposed to the sun. This piece of camel dung must have been left here at least seven days ago." The bearded man who arrived later broke open the camel dung and rubbed it. He handed it to Sui Yu and Zhao Xiping and said, "Look, do you see anything?"
Sui Yu glanced at it several times, shook his head and said, "I can't tell."
"These are branch remnants. This camel must have eaten branches or roots within the past day or two. There are trees in the east near Yumen Pass, and the shrubs become fewer as we head west, so we don't need to look east. It's too cold to the north, and the newborn camels can't stand it, so they won't go north. Next, we should head southwest, taking care of both sides. If we chase them for a few days, we'll definitely catch up."
This was to teach them. Zhao Xiping bowed and thanked them, then asked, "What's your name?"
"My surname is also Wan, Wan Xingshan, and I'm his uncle." Wan Xingshan pointed at Old Wan.
"Uncle Wan," Zhao Xiping called out, "Then let's go after them now. The longer we delay, the longer the gap will widen."
Seeing him say this, Wan Xingshan gave up the idea of persuading him to leave with Sui Yu.
The group rode camels southwest, traveling only to sleep. After two more days, they began to see more camel dung in the desert, proving they were on the right track. They quickened their pace.
On the fifth day of their journey, the wind was filled with the fishy smell of camels. In the evening, the wind suddenly smelled of blood. Following the scent of blood, they saw a female camel giving birth.
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